Pharmacists

A legislative effort to allow pharmacists to issue flu tests to sick Floridians is on hold for now. It comes at a time when health officials say this year’s flu season is just as bad as the swine flu epidemic nearly a decade ago.

Pharmacists would be required to advise people about the costs of prescriptions and whether the retail prices of drugs are lower than cost-sharing requirements imposed by insurers or HMOs, under a bill approved unanimously Wednesday by a House health-care panel.

California and Oregon have passed laws allowing women to bypass their doctors and get birth control prescribed by a pharmacist. Many doctors say this is safe, but others argue that these measures don’t go far enough in ensuring women have access to these contraceptives and would prefer birth control pills be offered over the counter.

In a move that could heighten the hurdles faced by states attempting to execute prisoners, a leading association for U.S. pharmacists has officially discouraged its members from providing drugs for use in lethal injections.

The policy adopted by American Pharmacists Association delegates at their annual meeting Monday makes an ethical stand against providing such drugs, saying they run contrary to the role of pharmacists as health care providers.

The Florida House has passed a bill that makes a lot of pharmacists nervous. Patients might be, too, if they were aware of it.

The bill sharply raises the number of technicians who can be assigned to a single pharmacist for supervision, from a maximum of three to six. And it takes away the Florida Board of Pharmacy’s power to keep the ratio below the limit in cases where it sees a risk.